Dates are only the skeleton of the stories which should be told about the ordinary or extraordinary lives of our ancestors. Finding clues to how they lived puts flesh on those bones and makes the old photographs glow with life.

About Me

I began my genealogical quest in 1990, spurred by a gravestone my mother found in Richfield Springs, NY. How many generations separated me from Samuel and Nabby Colman? Where had they come from? Thus began many weekends spent in libraries, requests to Town Clerks for vital records, tromping through cemeteries, and now--journeys through the internet and virtual meetings with other "cousins" on a similar quest.

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Sunday, October 2, 2011

A Nation of...

I enjoyed previewing the new Ken Burns series "Prohibition" at Greenfield Community College this week. It has given me a better understanding of the immense impact the 18th Amendment had on American society. Up until now, I had only my mother's statement that most of the important people in Cooperstown, NY had preferred her father's home brew during Prohibition.While performing a newspaper search for items relating to my grandmother's family, I found the following Advertisement in the Otsego Farmer newspaper dated Friday, June 24, 1932. It encompassed almost 1/4 page. It contains the names of her three sisters: Anne, Kate, and Mary Meeneghan as well as over 300 other locals.

We, the undersigned, believe that the Eighteenth Amendment should be repealed for the following reasons:1. It is not enforceable.2. It has increased lawlessness.3.It has diverted millions of dollars each year from legalized businesses into the hands of the racketeers.4. This situation has so reduced Federal revenue that, in order to balance the National Budget, increased taxation is necessary.5. It is an infringement on the rights of the individual.6. It retards the cause of true temperance.